EUROPEAN spacecraft Mars Express beamed back the first direct evidence of water on the red planet yesterday – to the scorn of US experts. The ice discovery at the Martian south pole was hailed as a “eureka moment” by the European Space Agency (ESA). It said frozen water confirmed the possibility that Mars once supported life.

THE first direct evidence of water on Mars was beamed back yesterday by Mars Express, orbiting above the red planet. The European spacecraft, which carried the ill-fated British-built Beagle 2 to Mars, made the discovery on the planet’s icy south pole.

It has been a distant dream of the space industry for half a century. Now man on Mars could be reality by 2011, thanks to a US plan for a 75,000 mph nuclear-powered rocket. President George W Bush will unveil the scheme and promise substantial funding in his State of the Union address to Congress next Tuesday.